The present invention relates to an improved extraction device such as is particularly adapted for removing pins from the flywheels of clutch assemblies used in automobiles with minimum effort and expenditure of time.
It is necessary, from time to time, to repair such clutch assemblies and accordingly they must be disassembled. Due to the fact that such assemblies are held together with such pins, they must be removed. The pins, in addition to being unheaded, are quite strongly and firmly embedded in the assembly. It has been difficult in the past to extract such pins without undue expenditure of time and difficulty, as well as risk of damage to the flywheel itself.
One work gripping device used for extraction of objects is of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,514,130 to Jones, in which one of the work gripping jaws and its associated handle are fixedly interconnected as part of a stationary clamp member, while a movable jaw is pivotally connected to the member for swinging movement toward and away from the fixed jaw, and is releasably locked in a predetermined relation to the fixed jaw and in clamping engagement with the workpiece, by means of a toggle linkage in which the remote ends of the links are respectively pivotally connected to the movable jaw and to the member at locations eccentic to the pivotal connection between the movable jaw and such member.
Another work gripping device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,012 to Jenkin. Jenkin uses the gripping device of Jones and has coupled thereto an impacting hammer which is pivotally mounted to the gripping device in order to enable alignment of pull of the impacting hammer with the object, such as a bent pin, to be pulled. By this arrangement, maximum force is not applied during extraction because of the resiliency of the pivot mechanism. Further, the impact member of the impacting hammer includs a design which is fatiguing on the operator thereof due to the collar design with which the back of the operator's hand comes in contact upon each impact of the hammer. In addition, by using normally available gripping teeth on the jaws of the gripping device, the grip on the object to be extracted may loosen particularly where such object is firmly secured such as for example the pins in a flywheel of an automobile's clutch assembly.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved gripping device in combination with an improved impacting hammer such that maximum force can be applied during extraction, such that the grip will not easily loosen even for firmly embedded objects, such that operator fatigue is reduced, and such that a more universal tool set is readily available to the operator.